


Is Your Coffee-Machine Running?

by bravopirla



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: F/F, Gen, Light Angst, basically the horde squad are coworkers and sw their shitty manager, catras swearing and lesbian thoughts, hehe....coffee shop au time, will add tags and ships later on
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-24
Updated: 2019-06-29
Packaged: 2020-05-19 00:15:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19345612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bravopirla/pseuds/bravopirla
Summary: Lonnie had always thought: as long as the job pays enough for her survival, it’s good enough.She was still studying and, to be honest, was lucky to have a job in the first place. Even if it meant dealing daily with her dear roommate, Catra, even outside of dorms. And shitty costumers with weirdly complicated tastes. And Kyle, her coworker, childhood friend and main cause of prolonged sighs. Also the uniform fucking sucked. It was ugly (yellow with equally bright and eye-damaging green dots) and smelled of burnt coffee.At least she got paid (minumum wage) for her endless suffering.





	1. A Lightly Iced Mess

**Author's Note:**

> they all go to the same school but rog and kyle go to different classes as the lesbians  
> shadoweaver is the manager because why not  
> i have no idea how starbucks/american school system/anything/dorms works

Lonnie had always thought: as long as the job pays enough for her survival, it’s good enough.

She was still studying and, to be honest, was lucky to have a job in the first place. Even if it meant dealing daily with her dear roommate and childhood friend, Catra, even outside of dorms. And shitty costumers with weirdly complicated tastes. And Kyle, her coworker, also childhood friend and main cause of all her prolonged sighs. Also the uniform fucking sucked. It was ugly (bright yellow with equally bright and eye-damaging green dots) and smelled of burnt coffee.

Oh, and she had to bake all the croissants or whatever pretentious french pastry was requested because Catra is a lazy asshole and would burn everything while Kyle would probably start a fire, and Rogelio was way too heavy-handed with the sugar. So, she had to stand close to the oven even in the hottest days of summer for a mere 2$ extra paycheck because all her coworkers sucked. Of course. Sure. Why not. Who wouldn’t want to. Anything for the rich kids who want to eat warm bagels with fucking 500° outside.

At least she got paid (minimum wage) for her endless suffering.

She sighed and focused on the only upside to being a part-time barista at the local coffee shop and willed herself to march towards her workplace. Her tank-top was stuck to her sweaty back and she cursed every step between her and the cheap fan on the counter.

She arrived a bit earlier than her shift to freshen up in the bathroom and took advantage of the momentary silence to study. Right now she was the only employee except for Rogelio, who seemed to always get here way too early. She had about fifteen hours before school started again and this moment, this god given opportunity to experience peace of mind – Ms. Shadoweaver in her office, Rogelio in the back checking the stocks, and no costumers stressing her out – was a gift she had deserved and intended to use at its fullest as she basically tried to do most of her summer homework in like twenty minutes.

As soon as she sat on the stool near the counter to enjoy some artificial ventilation, the fragile glass door was slammed open by none-other than the embodiment of everything irritating and annoying, Catra. She was wearing short black jeans under a white tank top and had her hair tied into something resembling a ball of yarn after an unfortunate meeting with a whole pride of lions. She was also wearing an angry scowl, which Lonnie’s brain immediately translated to ‘incoming headache’.

She sighed.

“Have you seen the fucking classes for this year?!”

No, she hadn’t. Why? Because she didn’t give a single shit who she’d have to share a suffocating and sultry classroom with.

“Catra, I can allow swearing for now because we aren’t open yet but _please_ stop trying to break the door. Unless you want me to use your paycheck to buy a new one so bad.” Ms. Shadoweaver seemed too tired to properly scold Catra and disappeared back into her office as quickly as she had left it. That woman had always creeped her out, she was like a fucking spirit haunting the shop because she had no relatives to infest. Obviously her coworker just rolled her eyes and flipped their manager off before sitting to the stool next to Lonnie and angrily shoving her phone in her face.

“Look at this and tell me it’s fucking fair!” “It’s locked.”

Catra typed her password in with the fury of a failed artist hammering their unsuccessful painting during a crisis. Then showed her a blurry photo of what she assumed was the new list of the names for their class.

She had to squint a bit, but then she saw it: “Adora.”

“Can you fucking believe this?!” Catra stormed away only to pace back and forth “What, does she think she can just fucking leave m- the city and then come back like it was nothing?! That we’d welcome her back?!”

Lonnie was just as confused. Adora had been their friend since they were children, then one day she got the opportunity to study in some fancy private school and disappeared. No visits, no calls, nothing. For two years. It hadn’t been easy for them. At first there was the shock, the misbelief, the hope that she’d turn down the offer to stay with them, the temporary anger, and then the silence. But she knew Catra too well to believe was anywhere near over it, even though she had refused to ever really talk about it.

She looked at her nervous pace, at the way her unkept nails bit into her palm as she clenched her hands in tight fists, whole body shaking with barely contained anger. Then she looked at her eyes, unusually wet and wide under furrowed eyebrows, and she understood. Catra wasn’t just not over it, she wasn’t over her. Adora had always been her everything, from her best friend to her rival, and when she was left with a mere note that solely said ‘I’m sorry, I had to’ she just…she’d lost it all. For days she would show up at Adora’s old room and demand an explanation, but nothing. For weeks she would text her and call and even e-mail her when she moved away.

Then she’d lost hope, and tried to rebuild her life without the foundation that their relationship had been.

Lonnie had to look away. It hurt to see her friend like this. Sure, she was arrogant and egocentric, she had flaws and could irate her with very few words or even none at all, but she knew she was just as hurt and insecure. She wanted to say something to help, anything, but she had never been good at comforting.

That was always Adora’s job, to firmly remind them that they were there for each other and would always make it, as long as they didn’t give up and stood up for each other. How funny that she had been the one to leave.

She clenched her teeth and stopped the train of thought: being bitter about the past wouldn’t make the present any better.

“Maybe she got kicked out of that snobby shithole.” Her words earned her a dry chuckle.

Not a full laugh, but it was better than nothing. “Nah, she’s probably here as an ambassador to the lowlands of us mortals.”

“Lowlands?” “You know what I fucking mean.”

She snorted and they both smiled. It was nice, knowing they were able to pick themselves up on their own. That they’d be alright even on their own.

Then Shadoweaver suddenly reappeared to turn the ‘closed’ sign to ‘open’ and Lonnie remembered she didn’t even read the title of the essay she was supposed to turn in the next day, as she watched as a group of costumers enter the shop. Show-fucking-time, apparently.

But something was missing. If Rogelio was on stock duty, and she took care of the pastries while Catra made coffee…who would take the orders?

Catra must have noticed the missing puzzle piece as well, because she immediately asked the question of the day “Where the fuck is Kyle?”

“How many times must I say this: _no swearing in front of the costumers._  He sent me an email a few minutes ago, he missed the bus and will be late. You two will handle the shop until he gets here. Good luck.” And so their oh so wonderful manager, the absolute ray of sunshine, left them to their dismay again.

Lonnie stared at the wall as she silently prepared to throttle her friend while Catra voiced her disappointment rather vocally as she speed-cleaned the coffee-machine.

Kyle lived in a stupid shitty street with only one bus stop and that damn thing departed every 30 minutes, if you’re lucky. If not (and didn’t today just seem a lucky day), the wait could take up to a full hour.

A costumer with stupid moustaches and an even stupider red bandana walked up to the counter. “I’d like a small caramel iced skinny hazelnut macchiato, sugar-free syrup, light ice, no whip. Thanks!”

Lonnie took a deep breath. What the fuck did light ice even mean.

“Right away sir.”


	2. Getting Over My Ex Whom I Never Really Dated

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catra had never, ever, in her whole life, wanted to get to work as fast as she wanted to now.
> 
> It had probably to do with the blonde girl following her as she speed-walked away from the campus and towards her bus stop, frantically calling her name with the same tone of someone asking their dog to show what’s in their mouth. She just walked faster.
> 
> “Catra, please, just wait and let me explain.”

Catra had never, _ever_ , in her whole life, wanted to get to work as fast as she wanted to now.

It had probably to do with the blonde girl following her as she speed-walked away from the campus and towards her bus stop, frantically calling her name with the same tone of someone asking their dog to show what’s in their mouth. She just walked faster.

“Catra, _please,_ just wait and let me explain.” Adora’s voice sounded too close for Catra’s comfort, but they legally weren’t allowed to run on campus (for some fucking reason) so she tried to walk even faster, her messenger bag jumping up and down with each hurried step. She still couldn’t get any distance between them. Damned Adora and her long legs.

“Fucking leave me alone already, you did it so perfectly for two whole years.” she hissed. Her acid tone did nothing to deter the stubborn girl at her heels, if anything it made her even more determined to ruin her afternoon after completely spoiling her morning. Seriously, she’d stared at her trough every class and it had taken all of her will not to snap right there.

“I just want you to let me explain why I did it, then I _promise_ I’ll leave you alone if you really want me to.” Adora sounded way too serious for someone whose glasses had slipped to the very tip of their nose. Also why the fuck had Catra looked back, now she had to acknowledge that Adora looked cute like this, pouting and with furrowed brows as she picked her glasses up before they fell, hair in her signature ponytail, black t-shirt (And _god_ , why did every lesbian she knew wear black in summer? Including herself, obviously, but at least _she_ wore a crop top.) tucked in her short sweatpants.

She mentally threw the useless gay thoughts away and tried to focus on getting away as quickly as possible from school and, principally, from the person who first broke her heart and was now causing her to have emotions again. Which she was not a fan of. But she knew better than anyone else how stubborn Adora could be, so there really seemed to be only one solution that wouldn’t involve moving to the other side of the world or turning into a fossil: hearing her bullshit explanation and then bolting it, because as much as she hated her and thought that nothing would fix the hurt she’d caused, she knew she’d keep her word and leave Catra alone.

She stopped ad turned around, the corner of her lips twitching as Adora almost fell over with how abruptly she halted in her semi-rush. She schooled her face in a more appropriate and much more Catra scowl and crossed her arms, completing her ‘I hate this and I explicitly want you to know’ look. “Okay, _fine_. Let’s hear your fairytale so I can get to work and live the rest of my mediocre life in peace.”  She made a point to look straight into her eyes and not at the smile that appeared on her face because she did _not_ need that distraction right now, even if it easily outshined the sun currently burning her bare shoulders.

“ _Thank you_ , Catra.” she breathed. God, did she _have_ to sound like that?! Like she’d just gifted her the whole moon and all the stars?? What the fuck. She had no intentions of falling for her again, even if her dumbass lesbian brain was begging to make her suffer again.

She grumbled to hurry up as they probably looked like idiots, standing two feet away from the gates of the campus just looking at each other. Adora seemed to lose her nerve right then, her face flushing and her eyes jumping in every direction. She gulped and settled her gaze on the floor between their shoes.

“I uh…can’t say it here.”

“Why.”

“There’s people. It’s… _private_.”

Catra lifted her eyebrows and tried to look more skeptical and less curios, while Adora tugged on her collar and seemed to find extreme interest in her dirty shoes. Then a shitty idea crossed her mind.

“You could follow me to my workplace, at this time it’s still empty.” Adora looked at her with her lips parted in surprise and honestly, she was surprised at herself too. She reasoned that it was just to get her back out of her life again. She pointedly ignored Adora’s little nervous smile and she motioned her to follow with a wave of her hand. They walked to the bus stop and waited in awkward silence.

She almost wished Adora would go back to her confident self and say something. Almost.

The ride was just as silent and unnerving, if not more, as apparently the whole state rode on that bus and it reached unimaginable temperatures. Oh, and it smelled like sweat mixed with more sweat. So this is why Lonnie preferred to walk under the sun.

Finally, _finally_ , the one stop they had to ride for got them to The Horde, Catra’s favorite piece of hell. She decided to start walking like Lonnie as she physically had to unplaster herself from Adora after a 20-something dudebro so conveniently pushed her right against her ex-crush turned enemy turned second skin, as they got squished by the dudebro’s friends as they decided to take 90% of the space available. It was mortifying.

Catra basically jumped down and didn’t even stop to check if Adora was behind her as she walked to the coffee shop and flung the door open, as per usual. It seemed only Ms. Shadoweaver was there, like the ever-present shadow she was. She didn’t listen to her lecture about how glass doors were fragile and shit, she knew it by heart and could not be bothered to care, the door was probably cheap anyway. At least Adora’s presence seemed to distract her before she got to the paycheck-cutting part.

“Are you a costumer? The shop is closed for another half an hour.”

“She’s my…classmate.” She wasn’t going to call her friend even if it was to get her manager off her back. “We just needed a place that’s not under the sun to discuss shit for school and then she’ll go.” She didn’t know what bothered her more, Shadoweaver eye roll or Adora’s dejected look.

The dark-haired woman left after a reprimand on how she swore too much and disappeared in her office, taking the electric fan from the counter with her. Catra flipped her off and dragged two stools next to the bar, sitting and propping her elbows on the cool surface. Adora sat to her right, looking at her hands clenched into fists as they laid on her thighs. She looked nervous and resolute at the same time.

Silence followed. Catra decided she’d had enough of this.

“So? Weren’t you the one eager to talk before?” she spat trough gritted teeth. Adora shot her a glare before looking down again. She took a deep breath and stared at Catra with new-found determination.

“Okay, I’ll tell you everything.”

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> haha a cliffhanger nice season 2 reference  
> this is p short bc i wanted adoras story and catras reaction to be one whole chapter and didnt want to cut it midway


End file.
